About me

This blogname was derived from the novel The Secret Life Of Saeed The Pessoptimist by the Palestinian Israeli Emile Habiby: absurdism as weapon against the (ir)realities of daily life in Palestine/Israel. (The subtitle is from a book by Dutch author Renate Rubinstein. It could as well be my motto).
My real name is Martin (Maarten Jan) Hijmans. I've been covering the ME since 1977 and have been a correspondent in Cairo. I started my 'Abu Pessoptimist' blog in January 2009 out of anger during the onslaught in Gaza. The other one, The Pessoptmist, is meant to be a sister version in English. (En voor de Nederlandstaligen: ik wilde in november 2009 een tweede blog in het Engels beginnen en ontdekte te laat dat als je één account hebt, een profiel dan meteen ook voor allebei de blogs geldt. Vandaar dat het nu ineens in het Engels is... So sorry.)

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Five Palestinians and one Israeli killed in four days, two Israelis seriously wounded

Israeli police and soldiers have killed five Palestinians in four days. Four of them were involved in attacks on Israelis during which five Israelis were wounded, one of whom later died.
Three Palestinians were shot dead Wednesday after carrying out an armed
attack near Damascus Gate in occupied East Jerusalem's Old City that
left two Israeli officers critically wounded. Israeli police said.
Israeli police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld told Ma'an that the three youths
attracted the attention of Israeli Border Police officers as they
approached Damascus Gate.They were stopped by the officers, and as one showed his identification card, another pulled out a gun and opened fire, wounding two female officers, Rosenfeld said. The other two were armed with knives. He said all "three attackers were shot dead at the scene."The two Israeli officers, both around 20 years old, were transferred to Hadassah Hospital in critical condition. One of the two later A died of her wounds.
"Explosive devices were also found near the site, which was cordoned off following the attack, Rosenfeld said, adding that Israeli forces carried out a controlled explosion of the devices.
On Monday morning Israeli soldiers shot and killed a young Palestinian man, south of the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem, Palestinian medical sources said. Head of the Tulkarem office of the Red Crescent Raed Yassin said the medics were informed, approximately at 7:15 in the morning, that a young man was injured near the Jabara Gate, south of Tulkarem.
The medics rushed to the scene to find an Israeli ambulance holding the body of Ahmad Hasan Toba, 19, from the village Kafr Jammal south of Tulkarem, before handing him to the Palestinian side. Yassin said initial examination revealed that the slain Palestinian teen suffered five gunshot wounds in his neck, chest and back.Israeli sources claimed the young Palestinian "crossed the Wall into lands of the Sal'it settlement," illegally built on Palestinian lands near Tulkarem, and that the soldiers rushed to the scene, and conducted searches.
The soldiers then located the Palestinian teenager reportedly in the bushes, and "tried to approach him," to arrest him, but he "pulled a knife and the soldiers shot him dead," according to Israeli Ynet News. His father said Ahmad usually works in Israel in constructions whenever he has a chance.
On Sunday a Palestinian man was shot dead after shooting and injuring three
Israeli soldiers at an Israeli military checkpoint located around the illegal Israeli settlement of Beit El, in the central occupied West Bank district of Ramallah. Eyewitnesses said the Palestinian driving a car that approached the military roadblock, a VIP crossing used by Palestinian officials entering Israel, before a soldier approached the vehicle. When the soldier placed his hand on the side window, the Palestinian shot him in
the head with a handgun, before shooting two other soldiers. One of the wounded soldiers, who suffered a mild injury, got up and fired several live rounds on the Palestinian, killing him instantly.The Palestinian turned out to e a staff sergeant of the Palestinian security forces. Israeli sources said that one of the soldiers, 21 years old, was moved to the Hadassah Medical Center, in Jerusalem, after suffering a serious gunshot injury to his neck. israeli Ynet News said that another soldier, 31, suffered a moderate-to-serious injury after being shot in his stomach and
extremities.